Scroll-supporting device



June 11, 1957 R. WILSON SCROLL-SUPPORTING DEVICE Filed Aug.' 13, 1955' INVENTOR. Richard Wilson HIS ATTORNEYS United States Patent 2,795,066- SCROLL-SUPPORTING DEVICE Richard Wilson, Baden, Pa.

ApplicationAugust 13, 1953, Serial No. 374,011

SClai'ms'. (Cl. 4ll-5) casing-havingat least one transparent wall and in which the scroll-supporting spindles or spools and the operating mechanisms therefor, are so arranged that the strandor stretch of the scroll passing from one carrying spool to the other, is normally held taut as it passes the wall or window' of the casing, through which it is visible.

A further object is to produce apparatus of the type indicated such that the scroll is enclosed, is capable of being wound onto and, consequently, delivered off of either one or the other of the two scrollesupporting spindles or spools formingia part of the apparatus, and in which the spools are operatively connected in such a way that the stretch of the scroll extending between the two spools is normally flat and substantially parallel to the wall or Window of the casing through which it is visible.

These and other objects are attained by means of the appalriatus illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in wlric Fligurel is aplan View of the apparatus disclosing the side thereof through which the so-called stretch of the scroll is visible.

'V-V o f-Figure 1.

Figure 6 is a more or less diagrammatical view of a prompter embodying my invention, as held in the hand of'a user thereof.

The illustrated embodiment of my invention consists essentially of a scroll, two scroll-carryingspools, a casing enclosing the scroll and the spools and operating means for co-relating the rotation of the spools. The spindle or body portion of each spool isrotatably mounted on the scroll-enclosing casing through which such spindle portions extend in spaced, parallel relationship. Each of the spindles project through and is rotatably mounted in apertures formed in opposed ends of the scroll-enclosing casing. One such spindle is provided on one end thereof with a circular operating disk which is rigidly secured .to it, is located outside the casing and is so positioned that it is readily accessible to the thumb of the individual holding the apparatus in the palm of his hand. As illustrated in Figures 1 to 4 and as indicated in Figure 6 of the drawings, the operating disk is of such dimensions that it may be conveniently turned in order to shift the position-of the scroll on its supporting spools, either by .the thumb alone or by the cooperation of the thumb, and the forefinger, while the scroll and its enclosing casing is ice "held against the palm of the operators hand, as illustrated inF igu-re 6.1 r

In addition to the operating, disk carriedby one end of one of the spindles, each spindleis also provided at each end with circular disks which is rigidly secured to'it. All such disks are located outside the. scroll-enclosing casing. In order to obtain a cooperative relationship between the two scroll-carrying spools orspindles such that the portion of the scroll extending between them is held taut, as it is wound from one carrying spool to the other, means are provided for, ineifect, operatively coupling the. spools or spindles together so that whileone such spindle, is hand operated to wind the scroll thereon, the other spindle rotates but primarily in response to the pull of the extended portion of the scroll passing between the two spindles. Thus the operating mechanism'is such that the spindle from which the scrollis beingunwo-und normally lags behind the manually operated spindle, and, therefore, places the stretch of the scroll under tension.

Referring to the drawings, the apparatus illustrated as anlembodiment oi? my invention, includes a narrow strip or roll of paper S, which constitutes the scroll, and acasing 7 which encloses the scroll and supports the scrolloperating mechanism forming adetail of my invention. As shown, the casing 7 is a substantially fiat rectangular casing provided with a hinged lid 7a. The hinges forming part of the casing structure are indicated at 7b. The casing may be and preferably is formed of plastic material which is of light weight and transparent. It is, however, important that at least one wall of the casing be transparent so asto give clear visibility to -the portion of the scroll located within the casing which extends from one carrying spool or spindle to the other and which is sometimes referred to as the stretch of the scroll.v

As shown in Figure 4, each scroll-carrying spool consists of a spindle .8 and circular disks 9. Each spindle-is slit. intermediate its ends, i. e., is provided with a slot 10 for receiving a tapered end of a scroll S to be wound thereon. As will be apparent from the drawings and the description, the scroll consists of a relatively narrow strip of. paper tapered at each end so that one tapered end may be readily introduced into the slot 10 of one of the spindles as a preliminary to winding the strip onto that spindle. As the strip winding operation is completed on one spindle, the other tapered end of the strip S is secured .to the other spindle by inserting into the slot 10 thereof.

As is. apparent. from the drawings, the spindles 8T extend through the interior of the casing 7 and are located in parallel spaced relation to each other. Each end of eachspindle projects through a mounting aperture formed in the. corresponding end of the casing 7. The spindlemounting apertures. are formed in the endsor opposite walls of the casing 7 and each such aperture is aligned with one of. the aperturesformed in the opposite wa l-l. With such an arrangement, the operation of assembling the spindles, with relation to the casing 7, simply involves inserting a cylindrical rod of the proper length into one spindle-carrying aperture, passing such rod through the interior of the casing and causing its end toproject through the aligned spindle-supporting aperture formed in the opposed wall of the casing. The spindles are preferably formed of sections, plastic rods or tubes slit as shown to provide the scroll-receivingslots 10.

After each spindle is in place in its supporting apertures, the circular disks 9 are secured thereto by any convenient means. The disks 9 are so positioned on the spindle as to permit substantial end play of each spindle.

In order to operatively couple the spindles together I preferably emplloy two disk-carrying rods or pinsll, one of which projects through a mounting aperture formed in one end wall of thecasing and the other of which pro,-

3 i jects through an aligned aperture formed in the other end wall of the casing. The inner or casing-enclosed ends .of the pins 11 are shown as .looselyfitting into a. tube 12, located within the casing 7. A circular disk 13 is rigidly secured to the outer end of each pin .11 and is located between and in operativeengagement with the correspondingly located disks'9 of the spindles 8. .The loose fit betweenthe tube 12 and the pins 11 is such that while the tube holds the pins in general alignment with each other, it, nevertheless, permits sufficient independent movement of each pin with relation to the other so as to accommodate more or less automatic adjustment between the disks 13 and the cooperating disks 9, thus insuring the desired cooperative relationship between the spindles 8. In order to accommodate this independent movement of the pins 11,'the apertures in the end walls of the casing through which the pins pass are of a slightly greater diameter than the external diameters of the pins.

The circumferential edges of the spindle-carried disks 9 are shown as beveled so that the beveled surface converges toward the adjacent wall of the casing. The circumferential edge of each of the pin-carried disks 13 is also beveled but in such a way that the beveled surface thereof converges away from the adjacent end wall of the casing. The beveled edge, of each disk 13 is so formed that it effectively engages the oppositely beveled edges of the adjacent disks 9. As shown in Figure 4, a coil spring 14 is located within the tube 12 between the adjacent ends of the pins 11. The function of the spring is to force each of the disks 13 into cooperative engagement with the adjacent spindle-carried disks 9. With such an arrangement the spindle which is manually actuated to wind the strip of paper onto it, is operatively coupled to the spindle from which tha strip is being unwound and the engaging disks (9 and 13) prevent free or uncontrolled movement of the unwinding spindle.

Beveling of the disks 9 and 13 as shown in the drawings, is desirable because with that arrangement of disks the spring 14 holds each'of the disks 13 in operative engagement with the two disks 9 adjacent to it. The illustrated beveling of the disks also makes it apparent that in assembling the scroll-carrying parts with the casing 7, the pins 11 and their carrying disks should be located in place on the casing before the spindles 8 and their disks 9 are completely assembled .with relation of the casing 7. As previously indicated, one of the spindles 8 may be pro vided with an operating disk which is circular and is of greater diameter than the disks 9. In the drawings I have designated such a disk by the numeral 15. This disk is rigidly secured to the end of its mounting spindle which projects through the adjacent disk 9 and as also disclosed by the drawings, the disk 15 overlaps the adjacent or intermediate disk 13.

As has been noted, the spindles 8 and their disks 9 are so arranged that each spindle is capable of some longitudinal play when mounted on the casing 7. This is also true of the pins 11 and the disks 13 secured thereto. For this reason each edge of the paper strip or scroll S may be trued up on its carrying spindles by merely moving those spindles back and forth with relation tothe casing 7 after the scroll is in place on one or both of them.

It will be apparent from the foregoing description, that the spindlecarried disks 9 and the intermediate pincarried disks 13 normally operate as friction wheels. That is to say, as one spindle 8 is hand turned, the disks 9 and 13 impart some degree of rotary movement to the other spindle 8 while at the same time permitting some slippage between contacting disks 93nd 13 to compensate for the increasing diameter of the scroll S on one spindle 8 and the diminishing diameter of the scroll on the other spindle 8, as the scroll is Wound from one spindle to the other. In addition, the spring14 between the adjacent ends of the pins 11, tends to cause both pins to act together as a single spindle, For this reason, each of the disks 13 coact with the disks 9 engaged by it, in such "a way as to normally tend to impart rotary motion from one spindle to the other.

From the drawings it will be apparent that notes or information may be typed or written on the exposed face of the paper strip which constitutes the scroll S, and that the scroll may be periodically advanced while held in the hand of an operator, thus bringing different portions of the notes or information into view through the wall or window of the casing 7. For this reason the scroll may be used as a prompter for actors or other public speakers and under conditions such that the notes so employed will always be available and will always be retained in the sequence or the relationship in which they occur on the scroll. That is to say, there is no chance of a disarrangement of the notes such as may occur when they are on separate pieces of paper or cards.

While I have described but one embodiment of my invention, it is apparent that various changes, additions to and omissions from the apparatus illustrated will be made without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention as defined by the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In combination with a scroll, a scroll-enclosing casing and a scroll-supporting and operating mechanism comprising two scroll-carrying spindles rotatably mounted on said casing and extending in spaced substantially parallel relationship through the interior thereof, two friction disks rigidly secured to and located in spaced relationship on each such spindle; a two-part shaft rotatably mounted on said casing; a separate friction disk mounted on each part of said shaft and engaging one friction disk carried by each such spindle; a spring located between the inner adjacent ends of the parts of such shaft and yieldingly holding the shaft-carried friction disks in operative engagement with spindle-carried disks; and means located outside said casing and secured to one such spindle for rotating such spindle.

2. A scroll-supporting and operating device comprising a casing; two scroll-supporting spindles located in parallel spaced relationship and each journaled in opposite walls of said casin g and each extending through said casing; two circular friction disks secured to each spindle and located in spaced relationship along such spindle, the peripheral edge of each such disk being :beveled With the beveled faces of the disks on each such spindle facing toward each other; a two-part shaft located midway between said spindles, with the parts thereof journaled in opposite walls of said casing, with each such part extending into said casing and axially aligned with the other part; a circular friction disk mounted on each part of said shaft, the peripheral edges of said disks being beveled so that the beveled edges of the disks on the two parts of said shaft face away from each other; a coiled spring located between the adjacent ends of each part of such shaft and engaging each such end, said spring holding the beveled edges of the friction disks on each part of said shaft in operative engagement with the beveled edges of each of two spindle-carried disks; and means secured to one of said spindles located outside of said casing for rotating said spindle.

3. A scroll-supporting and operating device comprising a casing through which a scroll contained therein is visible; two scroll-supporting spindles, each journalcd in opposed walls of said casing and extendiu g through the interior of the casing in spaced substantially parallel relationship; a separate circular friction disk secured to each end of each spindle and located outside said casing adjacent the supporting wall of such spindle, the peripheral edge of each such disk being beveled with the beveled face thereof converging toward the adjacent wall of said casing; a two-part shaft located midway between said spindles, with the parts thereof journaled in the walls of said casing in which said spindles are journalcd and with each such part extending into an aligning tube located within said casing; a circular friction disk mounted on the outer end of each shaft part and located outside said casing, the peripheral edges of said disks being beveled so that the beveled face thereof converges away from the adjacent wall of said casing; a coiled spring located within said tube between the adjacent ends of said shaft parts and operatively engaging each of such ends, said spring forcing the beveled face of each shaft-supported friction disk into operative engagement with the beveled faces of each of two spindle-supported disks; and means located outside of said casing and secured to one of said spindles for rotating such spindle.

4. In combination with a scroll, a scroll-enclosing casing and scroll-supporting and operating mechanisms mounted on said casing and comprising, two scroll-carrying spindles, each journaled in opposite end walls of the casing and extending through the interior of the casing in substantially parallel relationship; two friction disks rigidly secured to each of said spindles and located in spaced relationship thereon; a two-part shaft located between said spindles and extending parallel thereto with each part thereof journaled in one end wall of said casing; a separate friction disk rigidly mounted on each part of said shaft and adapted to engage one friction disk secured to each of said spindles; a coiled spring located between the parts of said shaft and yieldingly holding the disks on said shaft in operative engagement with a spindlecarried disk; a tubular sleeve surrounding said spring and the ends of the two parts of said shaft; and means located outside said casing and rigidly secured to one of said spindles for rotating the same.

5. In combination in a scroll-supporting and operating device, a scroll-enclosing casing through which the scroll contained therein is visible; two scroll-supporting spindles located in spaced, parallel relationship, each extending through said casing and journaled at its ends in opposite walls of said casing; a separate friction disk rigidly mounted on each end of each such spindle and located outside said casing; a scroll located Within said casing and secured to each such spindle at a point intermediate the ends thereof; a two-part shaft located between said spindles with one end of each such part projecting into said casing and with the other end journaled on, and projecting outside said casing; a separate friction disk mounted on each part of said shaft and located outside said casing and engaging a friction disk carried by at least one of said spindles; a coiled spring located between the adjacent ends of the parts of said shaft and yieldingly holding the friction disks mounted on such parts in operative engagement with the spindle-mounted friction disk engaged thereby; and means for imparting rotary motion to at least one of said spindles.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 801,781 Glisson Oct. 10, 1905 1,850,654 Blahut Mar. 22, 1932 2,177,715 Hartwig Oct. 31, 1939 FOREIGN PATENTS 142,618 Germany July 14, 1901 

